Do I Need a Mac Antivirus?

You might of heard the myth that if you own/use a Mac then you don’t have to worry about using an antivirus as you can’t get any viruses. Worryingly, this idea is still surprisingly popular.

Malware developers are less likely to target a Mac user as they cover a much smaller market (around 25% of all computer users) compared to Windows (with over 50% market coverage) this automatically makes Windows machines much more attractive to them - the more machines they can target the more information they can steal, which could potentially lead to more money for them.

In addition, Apple has developed multiple security measures into their operating system to make it much more challenging for a malware writer to cause any damage. These include, Gatekeeper, which automatically blocks any 3rd party software (that hasn’t been digitally signed and approved by Apple) from installing itself on your Mac. The safest way to download programs is directly through the App store. These apps are guaranteed to be digitally signed and checked off. If you do want to install a program downloaded elsewhere then you’ll have to manually approve the software.

Nonetheless, there was a massive security flaw called Rootpipe in early 2014, which allowed a hacker to take complete control of your Mac computer. This issue wasn’t fixed until early 2015! Can you imagine how many Macs were affected in this amount of time? Apple are known to be slow when it comes to fixing security issues or malware attacks, maybe because they believe their systems are safe and so don’t have a dedicated team to deal with these kind of issues. They also have only fixed Yosemite and later operating systems, which is typical of Apple - they tend to write off and stop support for older hardware relatively early compared to other tech giants, in the hope that consumers will upgrade. Of course not everyone is going to do this so a large proportion of Mac users are still vulnerable to this kind of attack.

So if you’re reading this on an unprotected Mac you’re probably thinking, what’s the best mac antivirus for me and how do I get it? Please visit thetop10antivirus.com where you can find out about the top 10 antivirus suites - you can compare all the features and also view the pricing plans. Nowadays, because people have recognised that Mac users aren’t necessarily secure on the internet, nearly all av companies have accommodated for Mac antivirus, but be sure to check the feature set before deciding on a security suite.